Large amounts of wastewater from nearby polluted lakes are discharged into Ha Long Bay every day, threatening the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to local residents who live near these lakes at Bai Chay and Hung Thang wards in Ha Long City, mass fish deaths have appeared there for many years, mainly around midmorning.

The dead fish on the lakes near Ha Long Bay

This has been attributed to the direct discharge of wastewater from surrounding residential areas through dozens of drains.

Nguyen Van Ban in Ha Long City said that while tilapia fish are quite strong, they die in large numbers in the lakes, which means that the water is extremely polluted. Meanwhile, the lake water is directly discharged into Ha Long Bay.

Among the four lakes, the one next to Ha Long Bay is the most polluted due to the fish deaths along with the waste discharged by two high-rise apartment buildings.

The seriously-polluted water from the lakes directly discharge into Ha Long Bay

Fast-growing tourist development coupled with thousands of fishing vessels operating off its coast has resulted in large amounts of rubbish being dumped into the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nearly 530 tonnes of waste so far this year has been collected on the roads alone.

According to the Ha Long City Management Board of Public Service, around two tonnes of litter is collected by bay cleaners on a daily basis. The majority of the refuse is found near the shore, having been dumped into the water via sewer pipes or by fishing vessels operating near the coast.